Winter food plots for deer vary with latitude

Winter food plots for deer vary with snow cover

Winter food plots for deer are very different from north to south.  Winter happens the world over. You can not escape it and it’s the toughest time in a whitetail deers life.   In harsh climates they spend more energy finding food than they do eating it, and without some good feed, they run on a net loss all winter long.  Your bucks are especially run down after the rigors of the rut, and winter food plots for deer can really benefit them this time of year.

Winter food plots for deer in the north

Snow is a bigger factor than cold.  They are both tough on deer, as the cold makes our herd burn fat reserves to heat the body, and the snow makes travel difficult, and it also buries the entire acorn crop and all spilled grain left in ag fields.  A deer will not dig through 16 inches of snow to find a couple acorns or pieces of corn.  It knows that it will spend 20 calories to eat 10.  Bad math if you want to make it to spring.

This leaves the deer only browse to eat, and these tender tips are an excellent food source, but a deer has to travel a lot to get at them, and they are very low in carbs that are used to heat the body.  Your deer crave and need something more and winter food plots for deer are the answer.  Give them easy to access carbs and you have a source that deer will travel to get to and come back night after night.

Winter food plots for deer stay above the snow line

In a mild winter with no snow, deer can still get at acorns and ag waste and winter food plots for deer are not necessary.  Problem is we don’t know how much snow will come so it is best to plan for it.  20 inches of snow makes travel extremely difficult for whitetail deer.  Young deer often refuse to walk when their bellies are dragging snow as they walk.  If deer are yarded in white cedar they may make it, but often winter mortality is the result with prolonged periods of deep snow.  Soybeans and corn are the answer for serious winter food plots for deer.

Soybeans and corn are king in winter food plots for deer

Both the bean pods and the corn ears stay well off the ground until they are knocked off or eaten.  Corn and beans are hands down the favorite winter food plots for deer when the snow comes and stays.  Many will talk brassica and the deer love it, but if the snow gets too deep they spend too much energy getting to it.  A field of corn will yield an easy 100 bushels an acre, often much much higher which is almost 6,000 lbs of high carb, high energy, easy to access deer food.  Soybeans will produce over 5,000 lbs of deer food per acre.  That is the kind of tonnage that can make a life or death difference in a sever winter.

Winter food plots for deer in the south

Southern deer can survive on greens and browse, and as a wildlife manager you must realize its the fresh greens that are in low supply.  Cereal grains such as wheat, oats and rye are top choices, and more and more people are using special deer blend brassicas because of the high tonnage they produce, and it’s nice to have a little variety in your winter food plots for deer.  Give the whitetail deer something they crave that they can not find anywhere else and you have an area the deer will flock to.  It’s one of the biggest factors for success in your food plot strategy.

We have spent more time talking herd health than attraction in winter food plots for deer, but bear in mind they are close to the same thing.  When the winter is mild your deer have a multitude of food opportunity.  When old man winter blows cold and deep, winter food plots for deer are the main attraction, and often the only game in town.  Think strategy and plan for a rough winter and give the deer what they can not find anywhere else when planting winter food plots for deer.